Two Hangmen
by Moonraker One
Summary: Sometimes, growing up with unique abilities, people call you a freak. For the girl found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, it's hard to be an ordinary farm girl and the last daughter of Krypton. Especially, when you look different. FEMALE CLARK STORY
1. Chapter 1

Two Hangmen  
By Moonraker One

A/N: I've seen fanfics before where Clark was a female. This idea isn't terribly original. However, I've completely changed many things. This won't be a perfect rehashing of the show with only one thing changed. Some things will be the same, but a lot will be different. That's just what to expect.

CHAPTER ONE

SMALLVILLE, KANSAS; 1989

The dark sky, rumbling with thunder, like a giant tossing and turning, contrasted with the typical boredom of one Smallville, Kansas. For not much more than an hour, the sky argued with the Earth, without so much as a single drop of rain. Many of the ordinary citizens of the small farming community stood or sat confused by the matter; none of them had seen the clouds blackened and circling overhead without water pouring down. The occasional lightning strike happened, yet strangely to them, it seemed to be limited to the area around a certain cornfield just outside the main urban area of the otherwise rural town.

Ignoring the ominous weather, a relatively new couple made an unusual break in their private lives to obtain some flowers. A familiar red truck parked with a faint grumble outside the flower shop of Nell Lang, and the bright-eyed Martha and her husband, the down-to-Earth Jonathan Kent entered through the door. The bell's jingle alerted the clerk of their entrance, and she donned a smile, surprised by their venture outside the normal isolation. She approached the counter, eager to help.

"So, what brings the Kents to town?" she asked. "I don't usually see you two around." She thought of the possibilities of what they might be seeking, and contemplated how best to use her savvy to help them.

"Tulips," Martha replied.

This slightly disheartened Nell, as she had hoped for something more exotic. "How about something for you two that's a little more out of the ordinary? Maybe some tiger lilies?"

"No," Jonathan confirmed, "she's got her heart set on Tulips."

She approached her usual set of tulips. "Well, they certainly are uncomplicated."

At that moment, Martha noticed and approached Lana. The costume she wore, quite regal in appearance, struck her as cute. She sat down across the table from her. "That, is a cute costume, Lana," she complimented. "Are you a princess?"

"A _fairy_ princess," the little girl corrected. "Want to make a wish?"

"I'd love to," Martha beamed.

Lana's eyes lit up. "Abra Cadabra," she said, waving her toy wand and touching Martha's forehead. Being unable to bear children, Martha wished for a child of her own. Her husband read it on her face, and it bothered him just a bit that there would always be this emptiness in their lives. Even as she got up and got her flowers, the young Mrs. Kent couldn't help but think about the desire in her heart for a baby. As she couldn't help but think about it, Jonathan did his best to hide his thoughts until he made it outside.

"Where are her parents?" he asked Nell.

"They're coming back from the game," she replied. "I'm watching over her, like a good aunt."

They gave their thanks and left the shop. Jonathan lifted the bags of feed he'd bought into the back of the red Dodge pickup, as well as the flowers, before stepping into the driver's seat. "I know what you wished for, Martha." He hid his inner sorrow over the issue as best as he could. Martha just stared out the window. The dreariness and storminess of the day was a perfect representation of how she felt inside.

"I just can't help but wonder what it'd be like," she pondered out loud. "Hearing the sound of little feet, and what not." Her husband wrapped his arms around her to comfort her as best as he could. Right as he kissed her, the sound of horns honking startled him into looking out the window. A car filled with cheerleaders drove by, the young girls shouting. Other vehicles moving by signaled the situation; Jonathan welcomed the distraction from the negative thoughts.

"Looks like Smallville won again," he said, starting the truck. Martha forced herself to ignore the way she felt for the moment and get back to her life. As they drove off, the sounds of thunder became more and more violent, as well as louder. And the lightning began to strike.

Nell smiled with Lana in her arms as a car drove up to a stop on the other side of the street. "Lana!" the mother yelled for her daughter. It was the last thing she would ever say. Not two seconds later, the first bolt hit the vehicle behind her husband and her. Lana's parents, the Lang's, were instantly incinerated when the electricity detonated the gas tank and sent the car into a blazing wreck which landed upside down. Nell screamed and turned Lana away from the horror, clutching her for dear life. The bystanders scrambled in various directions like roaches with a light turned on. Another lightning bolt detonated the fuel tank of a van thirty yards from a nearby family of three. Thankfully, they survived.

One by one, more than sixteen dozen lightning strikes destroyed several buildings, throwing debris into the air and nearly killing several people. One major strike exploded the town water tower. Almost a mile from the center of town, the Kent's largely ignored the lightning, as they'd heard it plenty of times before; what they weren't expecting was for a bolt to cause a huge explosion not fifteen feet from their truck as it drove down the main road. The vehicle almost lost power as the lights and dash flickered for a moment. Martha screamed. "What's happening, Jonathan?...!" she managed to get out. A moment later, a bolt of lightning illuminated a sphere of glowing light a football field's length from them to their northeast. The next instant the vehicle found itself jerked nearly off the road as a massive shockwave tore a huge gash in the ground for at least four hundred yards. Jonathan did his best to hit the brakes as quickly as possible; unfortunately, they would find themselves in the ditch dug by the blast. Neither of them knew what to think of it; the closest they could explain it as, would be electricity exploding like a bomb. However, it couldn't have been a meteorite, because nothing had come out of the sky except lightning.

A few seconds after the impact, Jonathan Kent was the first in his truck to regain consciousness. The first two things he noticed were, in order, that he still had all his limbs, and that he was upside down along with his vehicle. He quickly did a once-over of his body, and neither saw nor felt any open wounds, which amazed him. He looked over and saw his wife was equally okay. He then turned the other way, and saw something he didn't believe to be possible.

Crouching in the ditch, completely naked, with short black hair and soft features, was a girl. From his estimation, she could not possibly be older than three. "Martha," he groggily spoke. She turned his way upon his voice waking her up, and saw it as well. Very hastily, they unbuckled themselves and evacuated the vehicle. While Martha took the girl in her arms, cradling her, Jonathan went past and inspected the ditch. "Where do you think she came from?" he wondered out loud.

Martha found a multi-colored blanket not ten feet from her, wrapped the child in it, and carried her. "I'm amazed she survived that huge explosion! I've never seen lightning do that."

Jonathan saw two hemispheres of a metal orb fifteen yards down the line. It had crystals in it of varying color, and strange markings on the shiny silver outer shell. He'd never seen these colors before. "Martha," he replied, "I'm starting to think this is the cause of the lightning." He ran his hand over the shiny outer surface of the sphere, and had never felt a surface so smooth in his life. A second after he touched both halves, they illuminated and with a glow, became one whole sphere. Martha stood next to him, as in awe of it as he was.

"I'm betting whoever her parents are," Martha answered, "they aren't from Smallville."

"We'll figure out what to do after we get out of this ditch," Jonathan spoke, rolling the sphere towards the edge of the ditch. As he smelled the smell of a fried battery, he knew he might have difficulty finding a vehicle. He didn't know much about electrical occurrences, but he knew a freak occurrence when he saw one. They exited the ditch and began moving down the road in search of someone who could assist them. About a half a mile up the road, he managed to find a vehicle parked by the side. He tried to ask the driver, an old friend of his, for help, but found a hole burned through the man's head. He quietly mourned for the loss, but pulled the man from his truck. Right now, there were bigger concerns than personal feelings. A turn of the key showed Jonathan lights on the dash; a good sign, it was. With a bit of gas, the engine turned over. His breath returned to him for a moment. This tragedy might have some good in it after all, he felt.

Back at the ditch, they helped roll the object out and lift it upwards into the bed of the truck. A tarp provided an excellent cover as the Kent's prepared to leave the site of the disaster. Both of them breathed a sigh of relief as they headed a different route back to safety. Good fortune abounded; already the black sky began to depart. Quickly, though, more worry came as a man in a business suit came running out into the road, attempting to wave down some help.

"Mister!" Jonathan cried, stopping the vehicle and exiting. "What's wrong?"

The man could only stammer. "My…my son…"

Jonathan grabbed and mildly shook him. "Sir, where's your son?" He had to get the man focused. It seemed to work, as the chaos in his eyes departed.

"Over there," he led. Acres of flattened corn they passed until they came across a boy in a suit, covered by several downed stalks of corn. Jonathan pulled him out from under the vegetation, and held him up. The man noticed the obvious. "What…happened to his hair?"

Thirty minutes later saw both the Kents and the man in the suit waiting at the Smallville Memorial Hospital. The new parents of the mysterious little girl found in the field approached the man. "How's your son?" Martha asked.

The man cleared his throat. "He's going to be fine. He's just a little tired." He turned to Jonathan. "Mister Kent, thank you for your help. If there's anything I can do, don't hesitate to call."

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing you wouldn't have done yourself."

The man did not back down. He handed him a LuthorCorp card identifying him as Lionel Luthor. "I mean that, Mister Kent." Neither of them knew it at that moment, but the future events would be largely determined by this meeting.

SMALLVILLE, KANSAS; 2001

"Melissa!"

From upstairs a young woman in her mid-teens with long, jet black hair heard her mother's cry. She had almost finished dressing herself when the warning resounded through the house. Her jeans left a bit of her lower leg exposed, because the tallest they had in girls' jeans wouldn't perfectly suit a girl who stood three inches over six feet tall. She tried her best to pull her socks up to make up for it, then decided that it made her look like a nerd, and pushed it down. With a mild bit of difficulty, she slid a white underwear tanktop over her naked torso and made sure it tucked into her jeans, then adjusted the underwire support part of the garment so that her breasts would not be in an uncomfortable position. Her mother had always warned her that undergarments with a wire in them grew quite uncomfortable very quickly and that was why she never wore them; but Melissa Kent had never had such a problem. Perhaps, she believed, she just had durable skin. Over that, she slid on a t-shirt, and finally covered that with a flannel shirt. Quickly she buttoned the shirt all the way up, and adjusted the wrist buttons so she could be comfortable. Even with a casual shirt designed for boys, her arm muscles provided her with quite a bit of complicatedness when dressing. Finally, with all her clothes on, she headed downstairs.

"I swear," Martha Kent said to her daughter, as the girl poured herself a glass of milk. "How can you be faster than lightning and slow as molasses at the same time?" She first turned away, then turned back, slightly frustrated. "And can you please button the wrists of your sleeves? It makes you look less civilized if you have unbuttoned sleeves." She fastened the buttons.

"I know, mom," The statue-esque girl replied, "but look at these." She patted her right bicep. "I've got bigger muscles than most of the football team. It makes it hard to take the shirt on and off to change for P.E." Her physique had always been a source of frustration for her. Shortly after puberty, she had started to get stronger. At first, it was simple muscle tone; she had six-pack abs a year later. Then her arms' biceps and quadriceps of her legs got larger and more defined. She was starting a new year at high school, and already, several of the biggest and most devout muscle men on the football team were among the only ones who dramatically outclassed her. At six foot three, and only a few inches of circumference short of female bodybuilder limbs, she had had her supply of teasing since she was twelve.

"Honey," Jonathan argued, "you live and work on a farm. You eat a lot of meat. Some of these kids lived and worked like you do, they'd be just as big." He himself marveled at the development his daughter had; then again, he also knew something she didn't. She had come into their lives in a spacecraft. It only made sense that her musculature would be different.

She scooped her backpack onto her back. "I guess you're right," she conceded. Eagerly, she gave a kiss to her mother on the cheek. "I'll see you guys later." Once she ambled down the driveway, she saw a familiar sight; the bus down the road, roaring like a teasing school bully as it left her behind. The edge of her driveway behind her, she sighed and shook her head. Her parents would have to give her a ride, she figured, and so she started to walk back. Only then did an idea hit her. Just maybe, she thought. She focused her mind onto thinking about speed. Speed, at the forefront of her mind, did she force.

And the world went still as she left her driveway. Dirt particulates from the ground suspended in midair as she dashed by. The scenery around her looked like a quick-moving matte painting of various colors at first, but a moment later, her eyes adjusted so she could see every detail, even at over a thousand miles per hour. Wind currents bent around her as she leapt over a fence and moved through a cornfield. Just to one-up the students on the bus, upon exiting the corn, she jumped on top the vehicle and leaped a distance of several hundred yards from the roof. From there, a number of fields and barns she moved past at enormous speeds to stop and hide behind a tree on the school property. _I just have to wait until Chloe and Pete show up_, she thought, searching for them keenly. Upon noticing them, she blended in as best she could.

"Hey, guys," she introduced.

Both Chloe and Pete turned to face her, the blonde-haired and fair-skinned Chloe donning a confused squint. "Uh, hi, Melissa, how did you get here?" She had clearly seen the bus pass the Kent house without stopping, since no one waited at the end of the driveway.

Melissa cleared her throat. "Well, uh, I took a shortcut." She realized, almost the moment she said it, how lame the excuse was. She'd been put on the spot, though, and it had been the only thing she could come up with.

Chloe stood unfazed from her confusion. "What, through a black hole?"

Pete, quick to end the conversation on mysteries, changed the subject. "So, are you taking any sports, Melissa?" He thought it an obvious question to ask, with her figure. She had the muscles to take on and excel at just about any sport the school could put her in.

"Nah," she commented. "I mean, girls sports have taken a severe hit this year, and the last thing I want is to be endlessly accused of steroids just because I'm bigger than most of the Barbie dolls." She hoped her swerve did the trick.

It had the desired effect. "Yeah, I know what you mean, Melissa," Chloe said, taking the bait. If there was one thing the Kent girl could say she learned from her father, it was how to effectively switch the topic. "I had a friend who must have been one of those genetic prodigies you hear about, because he'd work out maybe a tenth of the other weight lifters in his group and he put on just as much muscle." She tapped the girl's arms. "Although, I haven't seen anything like this outside of the health channel's female bodybuilding events, Melissa."

Melissa rolled her eyes. "You try living on a farm with very little help, and you'll be the same way in a few years." She walked forward. "I've got to get to class." She moved ahead of the group. Her best friends, Chloe and Pete, had been with her long enough to know how far to get into a subject. That's why she had left so quickly; it reminded them what touchy subjects were. Lana Lang stood near a rail, waiting for her boyfriend, the football jock Whitney, and he was quite a jealous guy. Personally, she couldn't stand football jocks; they were the most arrogant lot in the world. She knew why Pete wanted to get in; to avoid being the scarecrow. She heard of how the football players would pick some freshman and strip them naked, tying them to a post like a scarecrow with an S painted on his chest.

Something happened as she walked near Lana that never happened; her heart began to feel heavy. Not symbolically, as in a guilty person, but physically, as her breath was stripped from her lungs and each one after came at laborious effort. Her skin began to feel as though it were burning. She felt very weak, and it took all her effort to maintain balance as she sat on the rail. "You okay, Kent?" a male voice asked. Melissa looked up and saw Whitney. "You look like you're about to hurl." She looked up and saw the two, with Lana giving her a look of sympathy, and she noticed a green necklace around her neck.

"I'll…be…fine," she weakly stammered. As the quarterback led his girlfriend away from Melissa, they were about ten feet away and her flash of agony left as abruptly. Her vigor returned in full force, and the sun shining down on her face symbolized the return of her strength. Standing up, she shook her head and wondered what the strange sensation had been caused by. Was it the green rock around Lana's neck, she wondered? After all, the electrical disturbance had created lots of it under the bed rock of Smallville.

At the same time, far from the high school, a huge fertilizer plant with the Luthorcorp logo emblazoned on much of the buildings and vehicles, stood almost defiant of the surroundings. A silver-colored Porsche pulled up to one of the largest buildings in the area. A bald young man in his early twenties stepped out. "Thanks dad," Lex Luthor said to himself. He knew why he was here. He'd been deposited by his father Lionel so as not to cause a major problem with business back in Metropolis. Also, he figured, so he wouldn't be able to cause a disturbance to the great head of the Luthor family. A woman in a business suit greeted him at the door.

"Mister Luthor," she said, "you have several documents to sign and you have to receive a tour of the plant before you can begin operations here."

"Great," Lex unenthusiastically replied. He took the clipboard from her hand. "So, let's get down to business. I have people I have to meet in a while." He followed her and took in the sights of the area. The only thing he wanted to do was get the hell out of the plant so he could go back home and do his best to ignore the fact that he'd been set up to fail.

Unfortunately for him, the tour and document signing took much longer than expected. Hours passed, and he believed every moment of it to be a waste of his precious time. After dotting the last I, shaking the last hand, and giving the last fake smile, he hopped in his Porsche and left as quickly as possible. As he tried his best to drown out his thoughts with the radio, he shifted into a higher gear and pushed his engine even further. At almost seventy miles per hour, he decided he wasn't drowned out enough, and turned the radio higher. Also, he took his frustrations out on the engine, accelerating even faster. The late afternoon sun and halfway-decent surroundings gave him a slight distraction, but not enough, as he pushed the pedal deeper.

Unbeknownst to him, a young woman who had finished her classes at Smallville High, walked down the street and stared at the surroundings from a bridge overlooking a river. She had only her thoughts about herself and her strange powers, and the scenery to think about. The sun shone on her skin, and her dark hair blew in the wind, as she leaned against the edge, staring at the river below. It seemed so serene. If it wasn't for the sounds of something metal hitting pavement quite a bit behind her and to her left, and the roar of a diesel engine having passed, she would have had nothing to distract her. She assumed her normal stance once again, upon reminding herself that she had to get home, She started walking down the sidewalk on her edge of the bridge. A vehicle's engine roared behind her. She didn't think anything of it until she heard a bang.

Lex Luthor received a phone call. He reached in his coat pocket for his cellular phone, and for an instant got distracted by the number. By the time he looked to the road once again, only a moment had passed, but it was too late. He had crossed the bridge almost halfway when he looked back to the road and hit the brakes and shifted as soon as he saw the spool of barbed wire rolling down the street. It had been too close to him to avoid hitting, however, and his front wheels burst from the sharp points as his vehicle changed direction from the impact of the spool. A dark haired girl in a flannel shirt and relatively tight jeans whirled around as soon as she heard the bang. He had only a split second to see her frightened face before the front bumper clipped the lower part of her legs, propelling her upwards and towards his windshield. He stood on the brakes as his vehicle jerked wildly and careened off the road past the bridge and slammed into a tree. The horrific sound of glass and metal crunching resounded as his head hit the dashboard, knocking him out immediately. Only the left side of the vehicle had hit the tree, so the momentum spun the vehicle to almost a complete circle and it slid down the dirt embankment and began to sink, front first, into the water.

As the driver side of the vehicle filled with the cold river, a pair of hands latched onto the undercarriage of the rear of the vehicle. Melissa Kent got solid footing on some rock as she pulled, jerking the car backward, up onto the bank of the river. Upon securing the car out of the water, she punched through the glass of the driver door window, and carefully removed the bald man from the car. She set him gently on the ground, then noticed he wasn't breathing. "Don't die on me!" she cried, carefully restraining her strength while she pressed down on his chest. After several compressions, he coughed up a significant amount of water. He looked into her green eyes, and then realized how ludicrous it was that he was looking at her eyes at all.

"You…" he stammered, "I saw the bumper clip your legs, I saw you bounce off my windshield at sixty miles per hour…"

"I guess," she gasped, trying to regain her calmness. "I guess I'm just special."

He sat up, wiping a bit of blood off his forehead. "I've never seen anyone just get hit by a car and save the person who hit them." He turned and faced her. "How did you do that?"

She could see the curiosity in his face, but also saw a woman who'd heard the crash from a mile down the road run up and call 911 on her phone. "Can I talk about this later? There's gonna be people here." She cursed her luck at the fact that someone had seen irrefutable proof that she was not, in fact, normal, but the last thing she wanted was for the situation to worsen by more people hearing them talk.

He nodded, catching his breath. "You know where to find the Luthor mansion." This girl had proven to him she had unique abilities. His first instinct had been to get her alone and study her under a microscope. On the other hand, she had just saved his life. He weighed the options to him. With her powers, he knew she would receive little opposition if she coordinated an assault on the powers that be. Though, logic argued to him that she would not save him if she wanted to instigate violence. Still, he couldn't be too careful. A private discussion would be the best course of action.

After not more than thirty minutes of waiting, the small group of people that had gathered turned into several police officers and a flatbed truck to haul away the wrecked Porsche. Lex saw water still dripping from the front of his car. It made him curious; that meant his vehicle had been partially submerged. It also meant that in addition to surviving a harsh impact, Melissa also had to have pulled the car out of the river. All the potential debate came to a close as a figure dashed down the embankment and saw his target.

"Melissa?" Jonathan dashed down the hill. "Melissa! Are you alright?" He took off his coat and threw it on her. He swore to himself that he would string up the asshole that put his daughter's life in danger like this. When the phone rang and the sheriff told him that his daughter had been involved in a severe car accident, his heart almost stopped. At that moment he decided, if he got his hands around the neck of whoever caused this, well, he'd be going to jail for murder. "Who's the maniac who was driving the car…"

Lex Luthor, draped in a towel around his neck, approached. "That would be me," he freely admitted.

Jonathan looked at the heir to the Luthor name and his murderous intent died down significantly. "Well," he turned his attention back to his daughter. "Melissa, are you ok?"

"I'm fine," she protested. The last thing she liked had to be people prying into affairs that didn't matter. She had not taken any damage; what more was there to know?

"You have an amazing girl there, Mister Kent," Lex complimented. "If there's anything I can do…"

Jonathan stood about two inches from Lex's face. "Drive slower," he ordered, quickly pulling away to lead his daughter back to the truck.

Lex looked at the dripping water from his car, being loaded onto the bed of a flatbed tow truck. "Thanks for saving my life," he said from a distance.

"What?" Martha inquired. She could have fallen over in shock. "He saw you use your powers?" She sat down with her daughter for a discussion about what had happened. She expected to hear that her daughter had nearly been run over but had been missed by a vehicle. Now to hear otherwise made her nervous. She knew prying, suspicious people would be covering intimate details of her daughter's life with a fine tooth comb. For her daughter's sake, she hoped it wasn't too severe.

"He hit me with his car at sixty miles an hour," she told her mother. "He ran over a spool of barb wire that fell off a truck. I didn't have time to react." She saw her father rubbing his eyes. "I want to tell him the truth, but I don't actually know what it is."

Her parents looked at each other. "Jonathan," Martha stated, giving a telling look, "I think it's time."

Melissa looked back and forth, confused and suspicious. "Time for what?" She looked between them. "It's time for what?" As her father stood up and began heading towards the storm cellar, she found herself moving in his direction almost by instinct. She wasn't a person that could be left hanging on a cliffhanger like what her mother said. "Look, please tell me what is going on. What's this big secret you've been hiding from me?"

"You may not believe us," Jonathan stated, "but you're not from around here."

She shook her head. "Well, where am I from, then?"

As they led her down into the storm cellar, she saw the familiar tarp covering a large object. Somehow, she'd never had the curiosity to look underneath it, and she guessed it had everything to do with what was about to go down. "You're not going to tell me you've been keeping my baby carriage in here, are you?"

"You can't really call it a baby _carriage_," Martha replied, "But you're on the right track." She quickly pulled the tarp off, revealing a perfectly spherical, silver-colored orb. Melissa laid her eyes upon it, and had never before seen such a thing. Approaching it, she saw no visible imperfections on its surface. Upon further inspection, she saw a single marking on the otherwise perfect surface. It was a shield-shaped polygon, with a boldfaced S inside it. The instant she touched it, a bright light shone from the shield and s-shaped impression in the orb. Instinctively, she backtracked. The light concentrated into a stream, and pulsated directly into the eyes of Melissa. She found herself thrown backward, but quickly pulled from her conscious state into an illusionary world.

"Zallia," a male voice with an unearthly accent, slightly British sounding, called out to her. It had an air of wisdom and she couldn't help but feel it belonged to a man of great stature. "You have many great questions. But those are for a later time. All I could do with this orb's crystals was store a short brief bit of info. There is a store of much greater knowledge of Krypton. You will find it." She saw a large planet, orbiting a red giant of a sun. Her view moved in and she felt like she was on the actual planet. She saw a crystal living quarter, where a man put his young daughter into a silver pod and activated a mechanism. "This, Zallia, is how you got to Earth. I knew the teleporter would create Kryptonite on Earth, but I had no other choice. Krypton was dying, and I had mere moments to spare."

"Who are you?"

"I am your father, my name is Jor-El," the voice responded. The image turned to a large chunk of glowing green crystal. "This is Kryptonite. Formed by the radioactive poison that seeped to our planet's core, it is the only substance on Earth that will directly strip you of your powers. It may also affect humans, giving them strange abilities, since the Kryptonite on Earth was made by the electromagnetic energies of teleporting you to your adoptive planet."

"I'm a girl of Krypton? Is that why I'm so powerful?" This was the question she had been waiting to have answered for years.

"A Kryptonian has power under a yellow sun, that's why I picked Earth," he freely told her. "You are young, so not all of your powers will have developed right away. I can tell from your energy signature you've already got the enhanced strength and invulnerability. In time, you will obtain even more amazing powers. I will let you discover them on your own." He showed an image of her lifting a huge boulder of crystal. "Your strength is due to the energy built up in your system. Whenever you do an action, your mind uses telekinesis to move an object you're touching. It gets this energy from the nearest muscles to the action. So, even though you're not entirely using physical strength, a Kryptonian with more musculature will be stronger due to having more muscle to draw energy from." He showed her taking shots from very common objects, like shrapnel from explosions and bullets. "Your invulnerability is a field generated by your cells. It holds the atoms of your body in the proper order, and it protects the helpful bacteria in your body from harm. Your immune system's cells also project an invulnerability aura, which destroys pathogens-cells and viruses deemed harmful, which is why you haven't gotten sick."

She had most of her more obvious questions answered, so she didn't have very much to think about, but as the image was fading she had one final question. "Why did you name me Zallia?"

"Truth be told, I honestly did not expect to have a female. Every male heir to the house of El has had male children for dozens of generations. If you had been born male, I would have named you 'Kal-El' after Kal-Ik, who was a famous Kryptonian philosopher. Instead, because you were a female, I named you Zallia, after 'Zalla' the child of a famous religious leader from Krypton's past who led the way for much of the government's reform. She changed quite a bit, as I expect your presence on Earth will do, hence the name, Zallia Jor-El." His face appeared in front of her. "Goodbye, my child."

The next thing she saw was her Earth parents trying to wake her. She stood up, wiping the grogginess out of her eyes. Once she regained her balance, they put the tarp back over the craft. "So, what did you see?" Martha asked.

She didn't know whether to feel happy or sad. "I'm not from Earth, I'm from a long-dead planet called Krypton."

"And your abilities?" Jonathan inquired.

"They're because of my Kryptonian heritage," she explained. "I get my powers from the sun. I haven't even unlocked them all, yet."

"It's great that you know where you come from," Martha explained. "There are people on this planet who don't even figure that out." They began walking out of the storm cellar.

She wiped her moist eyes. "But this means that I'll never be normal!"

Jonathan wrapped his arm around her. "Melissa, you don't know how great this is!" He leaned in close. "I had a full scholarship on football to Kansas State. I ended up staying home to help my father with the farm. Now, I had mixed feelings about it for years, but it just meant that I wasn't meant for bigger things. I came to terms with that, and it gave me the best family I could ever ask for." He turned her head to face his. "But this means you're not meant to stay on this farm forever. You're going to do amazing things. Things I could never have dreamed of doing."

"That's also why you have to be careful," Martha continued. "If you aren't careful about whom you tell your secret to, you might end up a government science experiment. Lex Luthor might be different from his father, but businessmen have a tendency to be paranoid."

"Mom," Melissa argued, "if I lie to him, it will probably only spur him on to keep investigating. He saw me bounce off his windshield, and he probably put two and two together that I pulled his car out of the water by force. If I am upfront and tell him the truth, it might sate his thirst for answers." She argued more logically. "Think about it; he has the resources that allow him to get his answers no matter what. If I give him the truth, I control what it sounds like. If he uses his resources to figure out the truth, he controls what it sounds like."

Jonathan pulled back. "If you want to trust him, I won't stop you. I can't stop you. I just hope you're doing what's best for you."

She smiled. "If I make a mistake, we'll cross that bridge when we get there." She disappeared like a blur. The next moment, she was in her room upstairs. Taking off the sweatpants and shirt she'd changed into, she saw herself in her bra and panties in the mirror. Her muscle tone, with her six-pack abs and ripped arms and thighs, was on full display. "I am Zallia Jor-El," she said to herself, "but I am also Melissa Kent." She clenched her fists and tightened her thick upper arm muscles. _Fuck them if they can't stand to look at me_, she decided. She put on a casual shirt that was short sleeved. It showed her thick arms very clearly, as opposed to the flannel she usually wore. She put on some jeans that were loose for some people, but for her, the size of her quadriceps fit very snugly. Rather than hide her natural appearance, she would proudly display that she wasn't afraid of people judging her anymore. After briefly recalling where the Luthor mansion was, she disappeared in a blur again.

A short bit of getting rang in from the gate, and she found herself walking down the halls of the Luthor mansion. Various statues and other antiques stood almost defiant on their pedestals and wall hangs, she couldn't help but marvel at them. "Come in to my main office," Lex's voice echoed down the halls. She followed the hall to the door on the left. He sat behind a desk with a laptop. A significant library sat to the right of her, and various decorations and swords hung on the walls to her left. "I see you decided to come, after all."

She shrugged. "I couldn't just leave you hanging after that."

He leaned forward. "You survived a vehicle impact, you pulled a car out of the river by hand, I think those are some quite unique traits." He wanted to hear how she did it. Had the government created her as part of an enhanced soldier program, and put her in Smallville to test out her abilities? Was she genetically engineered? These were options he weighed in his mind and things he wanted to know if they were true.

"I know this is going to sound cliché," she admitted, "but here goes nothing." She sat for a few moments in nervous anticipation of what his reaction might be. Would he try to institutionalize her, or worse, study her himself? She began to question the validity of having decided to talk to him about her secret. However, she looked in his eyes, and saw a curiosity that would not stop until it received an answer. He would arrive at the truth, regardless of the time or money spent. She had just this one opportunity to live up to her first impression of being a saver of lives. "But, I'm actually from another planet. The destroyed planet Krypton, in fact." She donned an expression symbolic of her nervousness.

He went over her statement more than a dozen times in the space of an awkward minute of silence. Finally, he said, "That certainly explains how you did that." He covered his chin with his hand, thinking. The events of the bridge he pondered for almost another minute after that. There wasn't a single event he didn't cover three times over in his mind. The silence broke when he continued his earlier statement. "You're from the planet Krypton." She nodded. "So, I'm guessing your parents sent you here because they didn't want you to die with them." Again, she nodded. He looked in various directions to stimulate his thought even more. "And, based on the way you carry yourself, you're worried I'm going to do something to harm you."

She pushed her nervousness aside. "Look, Lex, my parents-I mean, the Kents-both told me I was making a mistake. I myself thought that for a while. But ultimately, you deserved the truth, and I figured it'd be much more honorable if you got it from me instead of having to hear it through the grape vine." She put her hands on her lap so they couldn't tremble. She was so jumpy, she could have super sped out of the mansion at any moment; the slightest thing might set her off to run.

Lex leaned in. "Look, Melissa, if you were actually a world conqueror, or if you were the forefront of an invasion, it wouldn't have made sense to save someone with the resources to make an attempt on you." He smiled, and it seemed to wash away the paranoia that typically painted itself on his face. "Did you come to Earth during the massive electrical disturbance that shut off electronic devices for thirty miles?"

She nodded, sheepishly. "It was a teleporter. I also found out that it turned some of the rock into Kryptonite, which is poisonous to my kind."

Lex came to a realization. "That would also explain the freaks that keep showing up with the same radioactive infection," he added.

"Don't remind me," she stated. "I hate living with the fact that I created these people that do these horrible things."

"Hey, don't blame yourself," he consoled. "I'll tell you what. My teams will excavate as much of the Kryptonite out of the soil that we can find, and we'll see if we can use it for any useful purposes. We just might be able to turn Luthorcorp's energy division upside again."

She wiped her eyes for the second time. "You'd do that, for me?"

He laughed a bit. "This helps both of us, Melissa."

She got up to hug him. "Thank you so much! I've never been so happy to be wrong about someone." The fact that he didn't decide to take immediate action against her was a tremendous burden off her shoulders. She could sleep at night, knowing at least, that she had one ally.

"I'll keep your secret," he told her. She seemed nice enough to him not to be a threat. Still, most of his decision had come from her having the guts to tell him herself. That was another thing an assailant wouldn't do. She would've taken the opportunity to kill him and run, if that was the case. She smiled and thanked him one last time, then she took her leave. He could tell she felt more at ease, and in a strange way, it made him feel better to set someone at peace. The next thing he noticed, was that one of her hairs was on his leather chair. He picked it up and carefully put it in a small lead box. _Thank you, Melissa, for giving me a way to figure out how your powers work_, he thought as he closed the box. She had left him a present. And he'd be damned if he didn't make use of it.

Melissa left the Luthor mansion with a lot of proverbial weight off her shoulders. She appreciated Lex's calm and gentle response, as opposed to the vehement opposition she expected. Of all the people she knew that could be known for their trust, he hadn't been one of them. In fact, it had been a complete accident that their paths crossed at all. She made her way down to the main area of urban Smallville, and walking down Main Street in the evening made her feel calmer. Perhaps she would stop by the local coffee shop before closing.

A blue illumination came from a small auto repair shop. She could only guess what it was, but when the windows blew out, she knew it was electricity. She approached the window where the bolts had come from. She saw a young man standing over a body. He pointed his hands at the victim, who somehow was barely alive, and more lightning shot through him. She sped away from the window to the side of the building to avoid being seen. As he stepped out of the building, she turned around to face him.

"I don't know who you are, but you killed that guy," she warned him. "I'm not going to let you hurt anyone."

He sneered. He looked quite youthful, perhaps in his teens. "The name's Jeremy Creek," he said, readying his hand. "You just saw something you shouldn't have." He fired a bolt at her, and it surprisingly sent her back several feet. He dashed forward. "I can't let you just walk away and tell anybody." He grabbed her by the collar and lifted her above his head, electricity surging through his hand. She kicked him in the chest and he released her and stumbled backwards. His right fist began to glow, with charges arcing off his skin. She knew what he was aiming for.

It all happened in a moment. She saw an old washtub near the building, and it had water in it. She decided that since water was a conductor, it might be a good point of attack. In the time she turned around, his fist nearly arrived at her face. With only moments to spare, she grabbed his forearm and with her other hand, grabbed the back of his right leg, and hoisted him onto her shoulders. Grabbing his neck and stomach, she tossed him through the air. He flew face first and, sure to her aim, landed in the tub.

"Graaagghhhh!" he yelled as errant bolts of electricity flew in all directions. He jerked back and forth as the stored charge in his body left in a brilliant, violent storm of power.

Once it died down, she pulled him from the tub. "Are you ok?"

He groggily awoke, and looked at her with perplexed eyes. "Who are you?" he asked. She quickly went inside the building. Jeremy's victim wasn't moving, but she bent over to move him, and felt that he still had a slight pulse. Hastily, she picked him up and went as fast as she could to Smallville Memorial Hospital.

Twenty minutes later, her parents arrived at the hospital and found her sitting in the waiting room. "Melissa!" Martha yelled, embracing her daughter. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," she confirmed. "The guy who attacked me had electrical powers, and I'm guessing it was from the Kryptonite. But he couldn't hurt me."

Jonathan hugged her. "How did you stop him?"

"I threw him in water," she replied. "It pulled the electricity out of him.

"We're just glad you're safe."

She pulled back from her parents and donned a more serious expression. "I'm glad I was there. He might have had more victims if I wasn't."

Martha nodded. "You put yourself in danger for the sake of another person. I'm proud of you." She pat her daughter on the shoulder.

Melissa hugged them back. "Dad, mom, I think I know what you meant by me being destined for greater things."


	2. Chapter 2

Two Hangmen  
By Moonraker One

CHAPTER TWO

A rich kid paced back and forth between the computer console and his desk. For the past hour he'd poured over almost thirty pieces of information of vital importance. Each one he saw had to deal with the energy signatures of the various samples of Kryptonite his teams had been mining from the soil around Smallville for almost the past week. All he needed now was the word from the scientists as to whether or not they could find a useful purpose for the unique properties of the extraterrestrial material. If he had a source of energy on his hands, he could put Luthorcorp on the map. He knew it was radioactive; otherwise, it wouldn't affect an organism from its home planet. However, the human cellular response was less than desirable; individuals with prolonged exposure found themselves developing strange abilities. He prayed the team had news of a breakthrough.

"Mister Luthor," a voice came over the intercom.

_Oh, thank God_, Lex thought, pressing the button. "What is it?" His heart began to beat faster; this would be the clincher.

"Well, we've discovered that samples of normal radioactive materials, such as naturally occurring Uranium," the scientist explained in a straightforward, yet decidedly positive tone. "The natural radioactive material will create an electric field when the radioactive particles collide with that of the Kryptonite."

Lex could have jumped through the ceiling. "That's great news. Now, what's the waste product and how much electrical charge can we get out of this?" He began tapping the desk irritably.

"A single rod of Kryptonite will last approximately two and a half months at full capacity. We've recovered almost a thousand tons so far and there's still more of it buried. And the reactor is surprisingly clean; the uranium retains enough of its radioactivity to be used in a traditional nuclear reactor; this is likely due to the fact that Kryptonite radiation is at a higher frequency. The Kryptonite itself becomes depleted Kryptonite; depleted Kryptonite has one distinct side effect. The frequency of its radiation is lower, so it affects terrestrial cells in a similar way to the extraterrestrial ones."

Lex shook his head in confusion. "So, once the Kryptonite is used up, this 'Depleted Kryptonite' affects humans the way the normal stuff affects…the aliens?"

"Yes," the scientist confirmed. "Whereas normal Kryptonite has unpredictable effects on humans, and tends to work slowly, Depleted Kryptonite causes immediate feelings of weakness, sickness, cell death, and eventually, organism death. Strangely, it seems to have no effect on the extraterrestrial cells."

"Thank you, doctor. You can expect to begin full development on a working reactor, and also, a large increase in your salary." He walked over to his table to get himself a drink of a very expensive alcohol.

"Mister Luthor," the scientist implored, "the genetics team is utterly amazed by the genetic sample of the hair. The DNA is mind-bogglingly similar to human DNA, yet is extremely different in a few specific areas. It's almost as if…we're looking at an evolved form of man rather than an actual alien."

Lex almost choked on his drink. Risking dropping his glass, he almost dashed over to the intercom. "Wait…repeat that? The DNA is similar?" He began to think of the implications. He figured certain things might be impossible, but counter to that, it opened possibilities he hadn't even thought of.

"The DNA, while incredibly different in ninety-three very specific places, is incredibly similar considering it came from another planet. The lifeform must be carbon-based, which speaks of certain things about its homeworld."

Suddenly, the Luthor had a thought. "Doctor, ask the genetics team," he paused a moment. What he was thinking of was ridiculous. Yet, he felt like it would put him on the map genetically. His Luthor blood pushed him to win. "Ask the genetics team if they believe a hybrid between human DNA and this DNA can be formed…to make a living organism."

There was a five second pause on the other end. "Mister Luthor, you mean to suggest that a hybrid human/alien hybrid be attempted? A live birth through a surrogate mother and in vitro methods?"

"Yes."

There was another long pause. "They say it might be possible, but it would take tremendous resources and a significant amount of time."

Lex rolled his eyes. "How much time and money are we talking?"

"Uh, they're telling me, several million dollars and at least a half a decade."

"Put it into motion," he ordered. "And don't let anyone, and I mean ANYONE, know about this." He sat down at his desk, and sipped his liquor. From a single hair on his leather seat, he had put into motion a plan to determine everything he possibly could of the genetic workings of the Kryptonian race. Melissa had, unknowingly, delivered straight to him a means of improving the human gene pool. He planned to discover everything he could.

The Luthor mansion was not the only site of eventfulness. The Smallville high school campus saw many people coming and going back and forth between buses and classes. Most of them had their own schedules and cared only about their day. Some, however, had important events such as sporting tryouts or tests to study for. One young woman, however, cared most about blending in and seeming uninteresting. That person was Melissa Kent, only daughter of Jonathan and Martha Kent, and the last daughter of Krypton. Other than avoiding attention, the other weight on her shoulders was the knowledge that she had revealed her secret to one Lex Luthor. She felt mixed feelings about it. He'd seemed nice, but she knew that rich people tend to give off signals that suggest different things than the truth. Her nature led her to give him the benefit of the doubt, but in the end, she couldn't entirely relieve her stress that he'd misuse her information.

"Good morning," she welcomed her friends as she strolled up to them. "So, Pete, how did football tryouts go?" She looked at her height-challenged friend. She knew he desperately wanted to join the team. It didn't surprise her, although she herself couldn't see the amazing thing about running a ball down a field.

Pete Ross dimmed his expression. "I didn't make it. They said I was too small to play," he revealed. It hurt him; not just because they'd called him small, but because it would've given him a reason to stand out compared to everyone else. Even though he'd be part of a group, that group would've elevated him above normal student status and allowed him to feel higher than he was. "I bet if there were girls' tryouts for football, a beast like you would make it for sure." Melissa gave him a raised eyebrow expression. "Hey, don't call me a pervert, but how exactly do you fit those ham hocks you call quads in the jeans you wear? And do those shirt sleeves come in non-lumberjack?"

She shook her head. "Pete, I can't help it. I live on a farm." She gave a mild chuckle in hopes it would shift the conversation slightly.

"If the Kent farm works a girl hard enough to develop Zeus arms and Thor thighs, I think I'll stay away from summer work at your place, if you don't mind," Chloe quipped.

"I think it makes me unique," Melissa shot back, in self defense.

Pete tapped her on the shoulder. "Speaking of unique looking," he noticed, "take a look at she-man over there."

All three looked past a crowd of cheerleaders walking up the steps, and took notice of one of the most effeminate males they had ever seen. Ignoring everything above the chin, the man in question had a much defined form. In a tight gray t-shirt, and a pair of black jeans, was the physique of a bodybuilder. His torso had lines for each one of his six pack, and the pectoral muscles could not have been more chiseled. The arms saw near perfect tone, with each line almost flawless. From just this short of a glance, any of those present could see the symbol of the masculine body. When one looked above his Adam's apple, though, it told a different story.

He had long brown hair. It hung past his neck and covered part of his shoulders before the wind moved it behind him. It had a shimmer almost never seen in men's hair. His eyes looked very soft set and his eyelashes pronounced. The nose he had, it had a petite appearance. Too was his skin; it had a very smooth look compared to his neck down body. When he walked past the cheerleaders, he turned to them. "Hi, ladies," he gently said. The pep squad almost melted at his taking notice of them. Melissa heard his voice, as did Chloe and Pete; while baritone in nature, his voice didn't sound masculine at all. It sounded like how a girl would do an imitation of a man's voice.

Melissa turned to Chloe and whispered, "Who's he/she?" She found his feminine face quite hilarious. It made her feel bad a moment that she could be so prejudiced, but at the same time, she thought he could pass as the first ever female head to male body transplant.

Chloe folded her arms, disgusted. "That's Zane DoPora," she half-said, half-sneezed. "He was born here in Smallville and went away for a few years, then came back. All the ladies have been going goo goo over him for almost five days now. I think its sad that a man has to primp himself up to look like a girl and then he gets all the ladies. I mean, you're not going to fall for that, are you, Melissa?"

Melissa laughed out loud. "Are you joking? I'm more man than he is, and I wear maxi pads for my period." She looked at her watch. "Guys, I'd love to gossip about mister missus over there, but I think I need to get to class. See you later." She dashed ahead.

Pete elbowed Chloe. "I want to know who that guy is. People like that don't just stroll into Smallville after getting out."

She shook her head. "Me too; with such a plastic face, he could get a job for any modeling agency. He's here for a reason." She made a mental note to check up on him later. With her connections, she believed she could dig up information on him in no time.

Quite a way's away, a maintenance van drove off of the main highway and began to head towards downtown Smallville. Inside were two men who wanted nothing to do with maintenance of any kind. Their vehicle had tools of every type to cut through or otherwise break into vaults of any possible kind. Also, they had face masks and other disguises. The leader, sat in the passenger's seat as he went over statistical data on sheets of paper. "Mike," he uttered, "did you get the schematics of the model of that vault in Smallville Savings and Loan?"

His assistant reached over with his right arm and flipped the page. "I did, Jake," he answered. "I made extra sure not to miss anything this time." He knew good and well how bad it was when he missed an important detail in one of the previous acts.

The leader looked over. "We're gonna hit the place, and I want you to try to avoid any problems this time. In and out, we're going to be fast about this one." He mentally scanned the diagram of the inside of the vault door. He had years of experience breaking into very secured banks. From what he saw on the diagram, he wouldn't even have to face strong opposition; the model was almost forty years out of date.

"We're going to get ourselves quite a loot on this one, right, Jake?" the driver asked his boss.

Jake kept looking at the sheet. "I'm surprised they haven't been robbed already, Mike," he replied. Eagerly, he tapped the paper for effect. "I mean, look at this thing. An old lady could bust into this thing." They drove on, joking about various topics as they got ready to make their most recent heist. This small town, they figured, would be easy pickings.

Lex Luthor drove his luxury sports car to a stop off the side of one of the Smallville roads and parked it. Jumping out, he dashed over to one of several men suited up to mine Kryptonite. He looked at the machinery not moving and rolled his eyes. "I hope this information is important," he warned. "I have businessmen in the energy industry to talk to."

"Energy is at the core of our problem," the site foreman replied. He motioned in front of him to the open ground. "As you can see, we were mining Kryptonite. There was an eighteen ton slab buried in the ground here. Three of those tons are missing; they were stolen in the past five days. This isn't the only site hit, either." He handed Lex a file folder. "We wanted you to inspect the site before we continued digging."

Lex saw the open ground and saw where the vein of green crystal had a significant section chipped off. The file folder opened to display a map of Smallville, with each huge chunk of the alien rock displayed in green. Red indicated where underground veins, all bought by LuthorCorp, had chunks of the original radioactive material stolen. Immediately, Lex got paranoid; could his father have been listening in on his conversations, and figured out he had plans for the radioactive crystals? He couldn't afford to let this slip away. "Here's what I want you to do," he demanded, shouting. "I want you to keep digging. I'm going to have my security personnel arm you so that if whoever's doing this comes back, you can shoot on sight."

"Keep going as usual, Mister Luthor?" repeated the foreman.

"I want every drop of this stuff out of the ground," he finished. "I'm going to use this to power cities. Put my father's achievements to shame. LuthorCorp will soon be LexCorp. And I want you to make sure not another inch of this Kryptonite gets stolen!" He stormed back to his vehicle. The first thing he planned to do when he got home was to scan every inch of the mansion until he turned up either something incriminating towards his father listening in, or nothing at all.

The daily classes for Smallville High drew to a close shortly after the events occurring elsewhere in the farming community. As Melissa Kent headed away from the typical group to make the dash home, she noticed something. The effeminate Zane from the early morning near encounter wasn't heading towards the buses, or the parking lot; rather, he headed towards the woods, going in only a slightly different direction from where Melissa herself walked. Curiosity caught her as she ducked behind some bushes just in time to avoid him looking around to see where she had been standing. Not seeing anyone following him, Zane turned and continued walking. The young girl moved away from the bush and began creeping after him. She followed his footsteps as close as she could so he wouldn't hear anything different.

He stopped near a tree and looked one last time; Melissa super sped behind a tree and peered forward. Zane didn't notice her this second time either, and he stepped past the tree into a dark shaded area of woods. Then he vanished in a blur. Melissa snapped to attention. _What the…?_ she wondered. Quickly she propelled forward into super speed to catch up. He was quite a bit ahead of her, moving as fast as she was; but how could he do that? Could he be, she wondered, a Kryptonian?

With much effort, she closed in on him as he left the woods miles from the campus. The edge of the woods provided a good cover as she saw the blur of Zane head through a clearing and towards a farm surrounded on three sides by forest. Stealthily, she dashed to the edge of his house and hid from sight once more as he entered the barn. This secret, she had to know. She watched eagerly. This was a secret almost as big as hers.

Zane had the feeling he was being followed, but couldn't see anyone. Still, whoever spied on him would certainly have a surprise when he showed them what he could do. He activated an elevator in the corner of his barn, which was hidden inside a grain storage bin. The Kryptonite in his belt buckle and wrist band was almost out of power. The elevator landed, revealing a long lit pathway. A lead-lined steel door sat almost a hundred yards down the path. A spin combination dial and a turn of the lever later, and the large door slid open. Inside a large room past the door, was an inner chamber full of Kryptonite. The radiation of the alien rock made him feel better, if not a bit more aggressive. He broke off a fist-sized chunk of it and exited the room, sealing the door behind him. As he turned to head up the elevator, he could've sworn he heard the sound of someone climbing up the elevator shaft.

"Ah, my little green friend," he whispered, closing the grain storage bin behind him and heading over to a makeshift furnace. Lifting his shirt to reveal his well-chiseled torso, he took off his belt and his wrist band. The buckle of the belt and the golden part of the wrist band opened up to reveal a white crystal in each one. He deposited it into a waste receptacle. The chunk of Kryptonite he put into a container in the furnace and sealed it, lighting the fire with a pile of wood and some lighter fluid. Five minutes later, he opened it up and with tongs, removed the container. With care, he poured the liquid Kryptonite into each of the pieces of his wardrobe. He had just enough. It would harden in about eight minutes, but he could deal with it. The hot belt buckle he put back on and the wrist band next. Initially cringing at the pain of the heat, the radiation quickly took effect and he felt better. "Now, onto business."

"I want to know what you're doing with the Kryptonite," Melissa said, revealing herself from the doorway to the barn. She had to take the risk; she didn't know what he was up to. The last Kryptonite mutant she encountered tried to zap her; she didn't want to deal with that again.

"Huh?" He immediately snapped to attention. A person had seen him with the green rock. It occurred to him that perhaps she had also climbed down the elevator shaft and that had been the sound he heard. Angrily, he clenched his fists. "Great. Another freak hunter," he uttered. "You're not going to take me down, lady."

She had barely enough time to say, "What are…" before he disappeared in a blur and she felt a powerful impact against her stomach when he shoulder tackled her and kept moving. He released his grip on her after about five hundred yards from the barn. The kinetic force of his attack, combined with his sudden stop, caused her to ricochet off the ground several times and come to a final thud about two hundred yards further still.

"You're not going to get up after that hit," he gloated, walking towards her. "But then, your first mistake was to hunt a freak like me. You people love that label, don't you?" He surely didn't expect when she stood up, and seemed almost completely unharmed. She had a pissed off look on her face and he could see her tensed muscles under a rip in her left sleeve. "What…what are you?"

"Someone," she chided him, "you should not have fucked with." She pressed forward with as much might as she could summon, slamming into him at least at a thousand miles per hour. She slammed a punch into his face and launched him forward into the trees. He blasted through several. She found him and grabbed his shoulders, grabbing and smashing him into a rock. With a straight hook to his chin, she held him down. "I'm going to ask you again. What are you doing with the Kryptonite?"

He shook his head as his cut healed instantly. "Krypto…oh. You mean the radioactive rock?" He sneered. "None of your goddamn business." He brought up his feet and kicked her straight in the chest, shooting her backwards with a loud bang. Thick timber splintered like toothpicks under the impacts. He kicked a large boulder into her chest when he found her at super speed, shooting her back even farther. She righted herself as he arrived about ten feet from her. "So now the freak hunters are into making their own to take me down, are they?"

_Diffuse the situation_, she thought. _It would be the best solution right now_. She slowly took off her partially ripped shirt. "Look, Zane," she calmly said, "we don't have to kill each other." She pulled up her tanktop undergarment so it wouldn't reveal much. "I'm just trying to find out who you are. I don't want you to hurt anyone." She outstretched her arms, revealing her thick biceps. While not as muscular as his, the difference was up to a small measurement. "I was born strange, too."

He took a threatening step forward, widening his gaze so as to make sure he had all exits covered. This chick had powers too; he didn't know if she was misleading him or telling the truth, but either way, he wasn't about to just let it go. After all, she did have the same, if not greater amount of power than he did. And she didn't seem to have any of the rock on her, so that ruled out Kryptonite as her power source. "I wasn't born this way, you know." He suddenly snapped forward and threw a punch. "But if you didn't know that, you'll know this!" Making use of battle sense, he tried to surprise her. The unexpected almost always had a better chance than what could be seen.

Unfortunately for him, she had the time to react, as he underestimated her senses. She sighed as she saw his punch flying towards her.

_Enough of this bullshit_, Melissa concluded. Utilizing her senses, she caught his blow midair. The surprise on his face came second to the sight of her fist drawn back. She gritted her teeth as her tensed superhuman muscles loosed a blow of scarcely imaginable proportions. She struck him right in the face. Leaves fell off of trees en masse under force of the shockwave. His vocal cords couldn't even muster a scream she hit him so hard. He collapsed after landing quite a distance backwards. The only reason her attack didn't cause him to leave the state of Kansas was due to the downward nature of her punch. Although her attempt at calming him down failed, she succeeded at doing so with her next attempt. He lay unconscious on the ground.

When he finally woke up, it was more than twenty minutes later. He found himself on his own couch. He pulled himself up and saw her sitting in an armchair staring at him. "Let's try this again," she told, "and this time, without the super-powered fist fight." She leaned in. "Tell me what you were doing with the Kryptonite, and where those powers came from."

He squinted. "You first, lady." She'd incapacitated him; that was the only reason for his cooperation. Still, he wouldn't go down easily.

Melissa shook her head. "I'm special. I was born this way. This isn't about me. Talk, tough guy." To force the issue about what was important, that trait she learned from her mother. It helped the mother in arguments, and the daughter figured it'd help her now.

He sat up, bowing his head. "Fine," he conceded. He scratched his head. "I wasn't always a pretty boy. I was actually a pretty _girl_ once." Looking up to see her confused stare, he rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Yeah, I've seen that before."

She looked down at his bodybuilder-esque Greek god physique. "That's one hell of a sex change, Zane." This story kept getting better and better.

He curled his mouth into stone expression. "I've gotten that before, too." He shrugged. "I guess you could say I'm a product of that 'Kryptonite' stuff the Luthor guy has been digging up all over Smallville. Who knew it could have such potent effects when melted down and mixed with artificial testosterone?"

The last part intrigued her. "What? You're definitely repeating that."

He leaned his head on his hand. "My dad was a geneticist for a science firm back in the day. He was on the verge of getting government funding for a performance enhancer. It was artificial testosterone modified to give male-like muscle strength to women in short bursts for battle. He lost funding when it was revealed not to be so short. The Kryptonite, he thought, would enhance the effect while being reversible." He looked up. "Guess who he decided to use as his first test subject?"

Melissa whistled in amazement. "So, you went full man? That must've been really hard."

He shook his head. "You have no idea. Not only did I have to deal with that, but two years ago, the powers started kicking in. Soon I could find I was almost impossible to hurt, and I could move really fast and lift insane amounts of weight. Provided, of course, that I had the green rock close to me."

"So," she noticed, "you get your powers from Kryptonite? That explains why you have a lot of it."

He donned a serious expression. "Thanks to it, no one is ever going to violate me again." He pointed to her body. "So, not-so-girly, tell me how you got to be a super lady."

She thought a moment about how to trust him. Lex had shown a degree of willingness to be nice, which she saw only anger in his face. He didn't have it aimed at her, anymore, but she would take no risks. "I grew up in Smallville, I find I've got powers. I don't get them from the rock, though."

"So, I guess it's like, poisonous to you? You looked scared when you saw me closing in on you."

She nodded. "Yeah, I can't deny that."

He pointed to his belt buckle and wrist band. "I've got lead in these, so it only aims at me. Don't want leakage, you know."

She leaned in closer. "Zane, please. Promise me you won't hurt anyone. I've fought Kryptonite-powered people and they've wanted to cause harm. It's wrong."

He laughed out loud. "Oh Christ. You sound like my mother." Although he saw her expression, he hated being told what to do.

"Zane. I'm serious. I'm not leaving until you promise me."

He raised an eyebrow. "Like you could stop me."

She looked him dead in the eye. "I knocked you out, didn't I?"

"Fine," he gestured. "I won't hurt anyone by striking first." He pointed at her for effect. "But you know I'm not going to guarantee what I might do if they start something." He shrugged. "Fair?"

She stood up and teased at her tanktop to pull it back up. "I don't have the time to be your probation officer, Zane, and I'm not helping you if you cause some shit. So do me a favor and keep those powers of yours in check, super guy." She walked out. Her thoughts turned to the dirt on her body and her torn shirt, and also the fact that she was in her tanktop, an undergarment. Perhaps if she lied a bit, she could convince her parents she'd been running through the forest to take in some sights and ran into a tree.

He broke her train of thought by standing up. "No, I'm not super. You are. You're the super lady. I have to be something else."

She shook her head; where did this come from? "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I called you super lady, so I can't be 'super guy.' It's the whole copyright thing."

She slapped herself for effect. "What. The. Hell. Are. You. Talking. About." She hesitated after each word to emphasize her confusion.

He thought a minute. "Nicknames? Get it?"

She shook her head. "I was joking." She smiled a bit. "Like we need nicknames?"

"No, seriously! You need a cool nickname and I do too."

"My name is Melissa, by the way. You can call me that." She turned to walk away.

He pounded his fist. "I've got it! If you're super, I'm ultra."

Melissa laughed out loud. "Ultra? So…that would make you…Ultra Man? What the hell kind of nickname is that?"

He folded his arms. "I think it sounds cool."

She prepared to take off at super speed. "It sounds retarded, but if you like it, go right ahead, Ultra_boy_."


End file.
